The living room was as bright as day.
Pei Xiao lounged on the sofa in a bathrobe, its collar hanging open. Droplets of water fell from his hair onto his cheek, then slid along his jaw and down his chest, giving him a sensual, untamed air.
Wen Yining, held in his arms, stole a glance at his profile.
There was no telling what he was feeling.
The maid kneeling on the floor was deathly pale and trembling all over. Head bowed, she didn’t even dare look at the man on the sofa.
At last, unable to bear the oppressive atmosphere any longer, she crawled to his feet and clutched the hem of his bathrobe, pleading, “Mr. Pei… Mr. Pei, I was wrong. Please forgive me this once. I won’t dare do it again…”
Only then did Wen Yining notice that the maid’s right leg bent at an unnatural angle, as if it could no longer support her.
Had he kicked her leg and broken it?
Wen Yining’s scalp prickled, and she unconsciously gripped the edge of her trousers.
Pei Xiao glanced at the maid’s hand. Disgust practically spilled from his eyes. “I, Pei Xiao, have never given anyone a second chance.”
With that, he kicked her away.
A bone-cracking sound rang out. The maid passed out on the floor before she could even cry out in pain.
“…”
Wen Yining shuddered all over.
She had only tried to seduce him. He’d probably slept with plenty of women—what reason did he have to break someone’s bones?
This man was terrifying.
Moody, capricious, and vicious… The day he grew tired of her body, her fate would probably be no better than the maid’s.
“Are you scared?”
Pei Xiao suddenly asked.
“…”
Wen Yining came to her senses and belatedly turned to look at him, then shook her head.
Pei Xiao found her look—angry but too afraid to speak—extremely amusing. He scooped her up, sat her on his lap, and kissed her hard.
“Mmph…”
Taken by surprise, Wen Yining tried to push him away, but felt bare skin beneath her palm… At some point, his bathrobe had come open.
She pulled her hand back and mumbled, “Let go of me… Mmph…”
Instead, the man kissed her even more forcefully.
As she struggled, Wen Yining could tell he was naked beneath his bathrobe.
“…”
He could get aroused even in a scene this bloody. What a beast.
The bodyguards standing around the living room silently turned their backs in unison.
Wen Yining felt as if three lifetimes had passed before the man finally let her go.
“Wen Yining.”
Pei Xiao’s thumb brushed back and forth over her lower lip. “You please me very much… As long as you don’t run away, you can have the final say in this villa.”
“…”
He was insane.
He’d locked her in a cage of his own making and expected her not to run. How could he be so naïve?
“Of course, you can try running once. If you do… you’ll never get out of my bed again. Hmm?”
“…”
He was completely mad.
Wen Yining was even more determined to escape.
“Do you hear me?”
Pei Xiao pressed his fingers harder.
Wen Yining looked away from him and down at the floor. “Yes.”
Satisfied with her answer, Pei Xiao released her. The intimacy vanished in an instant; a cold glint flashed in his narrow eyes as he turned and signaled the bodyguards to wake the maid by throwing water on her.
A bodyguard soon returned carrying a bucket of ice water.
“Splash—”
The maid on the floor jolted awake, soaked from head to toe and shivering with cold. Still terrified, she forced herself upright and kowtowed as she begged for forgiveness. “Mr. Pei, I won’t dare do it again. I really won’t. Please let me go. I promise I’ll never appear in front of you again…”
A red mark had already formed on the maid’s forehead from her kowtowing.
Wen Yining was suffering along with her. Looking at the maid, she felt as if she were seeing her own future.
“Pei Xiao… let it go.”
She spoke up to plead for the maid.
At her words, the man beside her plucked a loose strand of hair from beside her ear and toyed with it in his palm. “What, you’re this softhearted toward a woman who climbed into your man’s bed?”
“…”
Softhearted? He was the one who was ruthless… No, he wasn’t her man.
“True enough,” Pei Xiao said, changing tack. “How could you be a doctor if you weren’t a bleeding heart?”
“…”
Wen Yining went rigid.
Had he already dug into every last detail of her life? And her maternal grandfather… Escaping looked far harder than she’d imagined.
As for becoming a doctor…
Wen Yining gave a self-mocking smile.
She couldn’t even leave this villa. Even if she got out, she couldn’t stay in Jiangcheng. How could she still expect to finish her studies?
Pei Xiao tightened his grip on her hair, his gaze sharp. “Wen Yining, are you trying to make me feel sorry for you?”
“…”
Wen Yining stared at him in surprise and shook her head. “No.”
He actually knew what she was thinking.
Pei Xiao let go of her hair, wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her against him. His tone was teasing. “If you satisfy me, I might consider letting you go back to school.”
“…”
Beast.
She would never abase herself and beg him for scraps.
“As for this woman…”
Pei Xiao turned his gaze to the shivering maid on the floor, looking at her as if she were a pile of trash. “If she had the nerve to climb into my bed, she should have been ready to die for it.”
“…”
D-die?
Wen Yining’s eyes widened.
Soon, a bodyguard came in through the villa’s entrance carrying a basket of freshly picked black datura flowers.
“No… don’t…”
When the maid saw the poisonous flowers, she nearly fainted from fear. Dragging her injured leg, she tried to crawl away, but the bodyguards who stepped forward seized her by both arms.
The bodyguard holding the basket picked up a flower, gripped her chin, and started to force it into her mouth.
“Ah! No! Ah!”
The maid’s cries turned shrill. She used all her strength, but couldn’t break free of the bodyguards’ hold. The pure black petals were about to touch her lips…
“Wait.”
Wen Yining interrupted them, her hands clenched tightly around the edges of her trousers. She turned to the man beside her. “What would it take for you to let her go?”
“…”
Pei Xiao signaled the bodyguards to stop, then lifted her chin and gazed into her dewy doe eyes. He enunciated each word. “Such a pure little white flower.”
Then he snapped his fingers behind him.
Ling Yi got the message and directed two bodyguards to bring the water dispenser from the kitchen and set it in the middle of the living room.
“…”
What was wrong with the water dispenser?
“Miss Wen.”
Ling Yi stood in front of her and reported respectfully, “We found a large amount of magnesium sulfate in the water dispenser—fifty times the human-safe dose per hundred milliliters. According to the surveillance footage, this maid added it to the tank before you came downstairs.”
“…”
Wen Yining’s mouth fell open in shock.
Magnesium sulfate was one of the ingredients in laxatives. She and this maid were complete strangers—why would the woman do something like this to her?
And wasn’t she afraid she might accidentally kill Pei Xiao?
A wave of fear rose in Wen Yining. If he hadn’t stopped her in time, she might already have drunk that glass of water.